Evolving technologies in decontamination

David Woods BSc (Hons)has been the operations manager for T .E.S.T . since 2014 and is an Authorised Person (Decontamination). Since university David has worked as a microbiologist and managed sterilisation and washer-disinfector validation processes as part of the range of independent services offered by the company. Here, David examines some of the technologies being used to preserve the disinfected state of the endoscope - and also those being employed before the disinfection to ensure a successful and efficacious process.

Since the early days of the ‘HTM 2030’ Department of Health guidance document in 1997, the process of decontaminating an endoscope has gone through significant changes fuelled by a demand for a faster, safer process that suits the requirements of the modern healthcare system. Endoscope Washer Disinfectors (EWDs) have had to keep pace with the increasing complexity of the devices and so too have the testing and validation requirements in order to ensure patient safety and reduce the risk of crosscontamination

There have been many recent innovations such as capsule videoendoscopy and single use colonoscopes1 and these, along with other technologies, may in the future replace the traditional flexible endoscope. For now automated high-level disinfection of these reusable instruments remains the most economical and rapid means to meet the ever-increasing demand for diagnostic procedures in the NHS.